why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?  

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

Simple answer is yes. It needs supports. 
when slicing always check the preview. The feature option will show you different colours for different parts, you should see areas in blue, those are overhangs and will potentially need them. 
Although it’s very obvious just by looking at that model that area would be printing in air. 
Also the Prusa model page says Needs supports. 

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

That, or re-orient it so it's mostly printing slopes.  If you are confident handling the bridge where the phone holder hooks around (bridge speed, bridge cooling fan speed, detect bridging perimeters), it would be a much easier print and probably wouldn't need supports.

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

I’d like to see the orientation you would use to print that holder without supports. 

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

@neophyl

See where the stringy part is in the original picture?  Orient the part so the stringy part is closest to your ceiling.  In that orientation, the bridging is minimized to the small area where the hook in the phone holder is.  If you have had any success (bridging calibration tool) and your bridging confidence is good, you should be able to spin it to your bridging sweet spot.

If you aren't confident, keep it oriented as is, add supports, and make sure limit support to build plate is turned off.  There will be a bit of cleanup needed with a file and sandpaper to get rid of the support materials.

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

I’m not visualising your proposed alignment. Why don’t you place it, slice it and post a screen cap of just how you would print that without any support. Or post the 3mf project. Trust me I’ve placed and printed lots of things at strange angles that didn’t need support but I can’t see it with this model. I’m very confident in my bridging, 140mm long bridges on my modded cr10 when printing support for helmets etc. I’d quite like to pick up a new technique. 

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

No point in mocking the afflicted @neophyl, the poor chap obviously needs new glasses.  😉

@terry-8: You will encounter a lot of offerings like this where the designer has gone for the aesthetic without  full consideration of the process or the medium.  A very simple design change, eliminating the cut-out, would have resulted in a much simpler print with no need for support.  It would have taken less design work too.

There are worse examples, it's depressingly easy to find them, here are two:-

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3920850

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:156051

- Neither of these are the glaringly awful one I remembered but my search drew hundreds and I stopped when I had a couple of examples.

One is just plain impossible in gravity and in questionable taste, the other -could- be printed if reoriented but then what would you do with it? (OK, I suppose you could glue the bits to a plank.)

Always preview any published design critically before you print, especially if there is no picture of the printed object.  A very high proportion of published designs are of indifferent quality, many are not properly tested, or tested at all, and plenty have never been printed.

Cheerio,

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

I’m not mocking diem, I’m genuinely curious if there’s an orientation that can be used to print it without supports. I’m usually not bad at arrangement in 3D space but I really can’t ‘see’ this one. 

I can almost do it if I trim part of the model off to have a larger base surface area for bed attachment.  But that’s cheating as it’s not using the model as is. Also any orientation I come up with that almost works would leave the part potentially weak where you need strength due to the direction of the layers. 
Once my brain starts trying to solve this kind of puzzle it’s hard to turn it off 🙂

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

Posted by: @neophyl

I’m not mocking diem, I’m genuinely curious if there’s an orientation that can be used to print it without supports. I’m usually not bad at arrangement in 3D space but I really can’t ‘see’ this one. 

Neither can I.

I can almost do it if I trim part of the model off to have a larger base surface area for bed attachment.  But that’s cheating as it’s not using the model as is. Also any orientation I come up with that almost works would leave the part potentially weak where you need strength due to the direction of the layers.

Just one of those parts it's quicker to redesign than to repair.

 Once my brain starts trying to solve this kind of puzzle it’s hard to turn it off 🙂

Turning off brains is generally inadvisable.

Cheerio,

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

If you add supports in prusaslicer, it adds a big mass of material.  Is that solid, that will need a serious knife to saw off? Or is it a delicate easy-break-off thing?  I've not tried the support feature yet obviously, just curious what the software is programmed to provide.

Thanks for all the "support",

Terry

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

Angles over 45 require supports - this is 90 degress.  

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

@terry-8

I find the best tool for removing support is a pair of needle nosed pliers.

Cheerio,

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

@diem

I concur.  I used needle nose pliers and flush cut snips.  

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

Also make sure that you change the contact Z distance for the support to 0.2-0.25mm otherwise they will be much harder to remove. Unless the recent profile updates have changed it the default was 0.1 which is too close.  Using the new paint on support function in PS 2.3 is also handy.

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

@neophyl

Well, that was such an easy print, I can't imagine why you can't imagine spinning it in an orientation that eliminates the bridges.  I did make a slight change to the model - two break-away supports to eliminate the impossible angle at the very top of the model.  by using simple break-away truss, there were no unmanageable bridges left, and at the end of the print, the break-away just broke away and no support mess to clean up.

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

Greta use of the rotate tool to eliminate the need for supports.  

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

@dan-rogers

But Dan, you are missing 2 parts of the original model from your print. Where are the 2 raised section lips?  Without those 2 small bits a tall phone isn’t locked in and could fall off the stand easily. 
The whole point of the mental exercise was to figure out a way to print it without support as it was designed.
I did say if I changed the model it was printable without supports but thats cheating.  

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

@neophyl

Often, cheating is the best way in 3D printing.  

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

@cwbullet

Yes I know Chuck.  That wasn't the point of the exercise though.  The OP original question was why spaghetti, the answer of course was the part needed support.  The model designers Prusa page even mentions supports are needed.

However Dan said it was possible to print the model without support.  So the challenge was on 🙂  Can you orient that model AS IS, to print without support ?.  I don't think you can.  I can print in in several ways if I alter the model, even slightly, but as designed I cant come up with a way that will work.
As I always like to learn new things, if Dan, or anyone else  like yourself has a orientation that its possible to print it with, without supports or altering the model then I am all for learning something new.  

Just to make it interesting I'll paypal $5 to the first person who can come up with the orientation  that will print that original model, without supports and without altering it in any way.  $5 is worth an educational moment.

RE: why did this make spaghetti -- needs supports?

@neophyl

It was not clear to me from the prior posts.  I guess I did not know you have him an assignment.